And since Slab, Szymanski, Hall, Redman, and all the rest of lying, slanderous, SEAL-6 syndicate, refuse to speak the truth, we must demand it.
John Chapman

The public has long gushed over SEALS and Six. This SEAL fandom is due to a deliberately manufactured celebrity. But inside the community we have always known the truth.

Out of water, and in their minds, they are SOCOM’s weakest link.

In my day, 4 Team 4 SEALS were KIA when they crossed a lit, open-ground, airfield, during the Panama invasion. Something not even a basic 11-Bravo infantry grunt would do. The Battle of Paitilla Airport occurred on December 20, 1989, during the U.S. invasion of Panama (Operation Just Cause), when 48 Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 4 were tasked with disabling Manuel Noriega’s private jet.

The mission failed due to a miscalculated plan that required the SEALs to walk across an open, well-lit tarmac without cover, exposing them to Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) guards. Instead of using stealth or sniper tactics as recommended by experienced personnel, the SEALs were ordered to charge up the runway to disable the aircraft.

Slipping standards, inadequate preparation and lack of professionalism have long haunted the SEALs. But by 2024 the inadequate skills, and failures of standards became so institutionalized that SEALs were drowning!

And not in over-the-horizon swims, or deep-water dives. Just slipping off boats. Now only those of us who have been in or under the waves with SEALs can appreciate the enormity of that statement.

Two U.S. Navy SEALs, Chief Special Warfare Operator Christopher Chambers and Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Nathan Gage Ingram, drowned on January 11, 2024, during a nighttime raid off the coast of Somalia in the Arabian Sea.

The drownings were deemed preventable by a military investigation released in October 2024, which identified a string of systemic failures:

Both SEALs were encumbered by approximately 48 pounds of equipment, which overwhelmed their physical capabilities and emergency flotation devices.

But somewhere along the way DEVGRU and SEAL leadership made a strategic decision to forego truth telling and not learn from their deadly mistakes but highlight them. And rewrite them as if not success stories, at least tales of valor.

Nothing exemplifies this stratagem of spinning failures into glorious sacrifices more than Luttrell’s lies. Better known to the public as Lone Survivor. The book/film depicts a massive battle with 80–200 Taliban fighters, but after-action reports, phone intercepts, and Taliban footage suggest only 8–15 enemies were present. Rescue teams found few U.S. spent casings and no dead enemy combatants, contradicting the depiction of a fierce, prolonged firefight.

Multiple sources, including the Afghan villager Mohammad Gulab who sheltered him, claim Marcus Luttrell did not engage in significant combat, was found with full magazines, and fled the scene rather than fighting alongside his team. Luttrell has disputed these claims, maintaining his account of heroism.

In his follow-up book Service, Luttrell revealed that Naval Special Warfare Command effectively commissioned the book for recruitment and morale purposes, contradicting his initial claim that it was his own idea. Critics argue this institutional involvement incentivized a polished, heroic narrative over historical accuracy.

But the lies became addictive. And as the lies became addictive, the sins of the lies became obsessive. And of course, the fact that Lutrell, supposedly a SEAL’s SEAL and man’s man, did not buck the corrupt chain of command. He simply submitted to it.

On June 6, the New York Times published “The Secret History of SEAL Team 6: Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines,” a piece describing several operations in Afghanistan, which, if the Times’ reporting is true, raise serious concerns about the unit’s compliance with the laws of war.

First, consider the following quotes and excerpts from the article describing potentially indiscriminate target choices, resulting in the death of several non-combatants.

Afghan villagers and a British commander accused SEALs of indiscriminately killing men in one hamlet; in 2009, team members joined C.I.A. and Afghan paramilitary forces in a raid that left a group of youths dead …

A former senior SEAL told the Times:

“Whether they were facilitators, Taliban subcommanders, Taliban commanders, financiers, it no longer became important.” Another former member said, “By 2010, guys were going after street thugs.”

Book cover for 'Alone at Dawn' by Dan Schilling and Lori Chapman Longfritz. Subtitle reads 'Medal of Honor Recipient John Chapman and the Untold Story of the World's Deadliest Special Operations Force.' Features a soldier in snowy mountains and a military badge.

The Times quotes the book No Hero by Matt Bisonnette, an ex-Team 6 member. He writes of night raids into suspected insurgents’ houses where, “If I caught them with a gun, I killed them, just like all the guys in the command.”

Another former Team 6 member: described how one SEAL sniper killed three unarmed people, including a small girl, in separate episodes in Afghanistan and told his superiors that he felt they had posed a threat.

That sniper was apparently forced out of Team 6 after the incident, though his actions were said to be legal by the Times.

A half-dozen former officers and enlisted troops who were interviewed said they knew of civilian deaths caused by Team 6. Mr. Slabinski, a former senior enlisted member of SEAL Team 6, said he witnessed Team 6 members mistakenly kill civilians “probably four or five times” during his deployments.

Another former senior Team 6 member contended later that Mr. Slabinski, Blue Squadron’s command master chief, gave pre-mission guidance that every male at the target be killed. Mr. Slabinski denied that, saying there was no policy to leave all men dead. “I didn’t ever convey that to the guys,” he said in an interview.

Finally, the Times describes the aftermath of a 2009 mission that killed 10 residents of the Afghan village, Ghazi Khan.

The purpose of the mission was to capture or kill a senior Taliban operative, but it was quickly apparent that no Taliban leaders were present at the target. The mission had been based on faulty intelligence, a problem that bedeviled United States military operations even after years in Afghanistan. A former governor of the province investigated and accused the Americans of killing unarmed schoolboys. The United Nations mission in Afghanistan issued a statement saying that an initial investigation had concluded that “eight of those killed were students enrolled in local schools.”

Matt Cubbler is no stranger to the SEAL crime and cover up cartel. He is a retired police officer and former U.S. Air Marshal who has spent years investigating the 2012 death of Navy SEAL Cmdr. Job Price, claiming the official ruling of suicide was incorrect and that Price was murdered by his own SEAL brethren. Cubbler, who was a high school classmate of Price, began the private investigation in 2019 at the request of Price’s father, arguing that the military’s probe ignored glaring forensic holes, such as a bullet casing found under Price’s body, which suggested the scene was tampered with.

Despite two separate military inquiries concluding Price died by suicide due to stress and exhaustion, Cubbler contends that no witness believed Price was suicidal and that a suicide note was never found. He has published his findings through podcasts and articles, alleging a cover-up by the Navy SEALs that suppressed evidence to protect the unit’s reputation, though some online critics question his credibility and motives.

The Navy is investigating the apparent suicide of Navy Cmdr. Job W. Price in Afghanistan, a U.S. military official tells CNN.

Cubbler’s primary goal is to restore Job Price’s honor and secure service-related benefits and life insurance for the family, which are often voided in suicide cases. He has attempted to gain national attention for the case, including contacting media figures like Pete Hegseth, but has faced challenges in getting official agencies to reopen the investigation or acknowledge his alternative theory.

But no one lays out the whole SEAL syndicate more completely than Matthew Cole in his book Code Over Country: The Tragedy and Corruption of SEAL Team Six. The book argues that high-level military and political leaders have shielded these elite operators from accountability, creating a conspiracy of silence that protects the SEAL brand while allowing criminal behavior to go unpunished.

Cole traces the SEALs’ evolution from their World War II origins and Vietnam War abuses to their role in the War on Terror, highlighting how their violence spiraled out of control.

The text details controversies such as the Eddie Gallagher court-martial, the 2017 hazing cover-up in Mali, and the murder of Green Beret Logan Melgar.

The book critiques the SEAL ethos created by founder Richard “Demo Dick” Marcinko, which allegedly prioritized “pirates and outlaws” and fostered a culture where operators viewed enemies as subhuman, undermining the Geneva Conventions. (I’ve never met a SEAL that praised convicted felon Marcinko.)

Cole asserts that the entire Navy SEAL enterprise is compromised, with leadership rewarding those who protect the brand rather than enforcing ethical standards, leading to a state of corruption that extends beyond just SEAL Team 6.

Rather face facts, do honest hot washes, truthful after-actions, analyze, learn from and correct their errors, SEAL Team 6, now known as DEVGRU, the Naval Special Warfare Command and big Navy have made an institutional and catastrophic decision. They decided to simply lie. Replace bravado with character. Substitute myth for meaning. Egoism has been supplanted by excellence.

This institutional decision is catastrophic on many levels. It elevates egos. Makes so-called quiet professionals TV, film, podcast and movie stars. It has created a multi-million dollar, post-active-duty industry. SEAL knives, courses, books and films are everywhere. BUDs (Basic Underwater Demolition School) media is so saturated that it has become tedium.

But all this material, egotistical and social success has come at a cost. Deadly mistakes. Paid in blood. And instead of admitting errors and accepting responsibility, the SEAL syndicate has done just the opposite. They have rewritten failures to plan, practice and execute as tragic but glorious acts of valor, (pun intended).

Ethical SEAL leadership who discerned the sinking of the SEALs tried to intervene. The Navy SEAL commander who attempted to reform the community and was subsequently removed was Rear Admiral Collin P. Green.

Green, who led the Naval Special Warfare Command, publicly acknowledged that the SEAL community had “a problem” and that some members were “ethically misaligned” due to a lack of leadership action.

He implemented reforms focused on leadership, accountability, and direction, including firing the top three leaders of SEAL Team 7 after a breakdown in discipline. However, his tenure ended in September 2020 when he left his post to become chief of staff at U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).

Green’s departure followed a high-profile confrontation with the Trump administration over the case of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Edward “Eddie” Gallagher. Green supported the process to strip Gallagher of his SEAL Trident pin following a court-martial, but President Trump intervened to halt the removal and restore Gallagher’s rank. Green later stated that the stress from these reform efforts and personal issues took a toll, and he declined an extended tour, effectively stepping down early without seeking a third star.

This is likely where the SEALs began sinking. Reform had been rejected. Criminality, unprofessionalism, unaccountability, ‘ethical misalignment’ became the standard.

And anyone who resisted was to be rejected. Dismissed. Made irrelevant. And if need be, demeaned.

Which brings us to the Takur-Gar, Slabinski-Chapman, Medal of Honor debacle. This is DEVGRU’s dive into disgrace. This is where Slabinski sinks into scandal. Where Mitch Hall humiliates himself.

I’m not going to recount U.S. Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman’s heroism here. To watch the only Medal of Honor action ever recorded (by FLIR – Forward Looking Infra-Red), go here, and watch in silent awe:

Chapman was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in May of 2018. His citation reads:

Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as an Air Force Special Tactics Combat Controller, attached to a Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Team conducting reconnaissance operations in Takur Ghar, Afghanistan, on March 4, 2002. During insertion, the team’s helicopter was ambushed causing a teammate to fall into an entrenched group of enemy combatants below. Sergeant Chapman and the team voluntarily reinserted onto the snow-capped mountain, into the heart of a known enemy stronghold to rescue one of their own.

Without regard for his own safety, Sergeant Chapman immediately engaged, moving in the direction of the closest enemy position despite coming under heavy fire from multiple directions. He fearlessly charged an enemy bunker, up a steep incline in thigh-deep snow and into hostile fire, directly engaging the enemy. Upon reaching the bunker, Sergeant Chapman assaulted and cleared the position, killing all enemy occupants. With complete disregard for his own life, Sergeant Chapman deliberately moved from cover only 12 meters from the enemy and exposed himself once again to attack a second bunker, from which an emplaced machine gun was firing on his team.

During this assault from an exposed position directly in the line of intense fire, Sergeant Chapman was struck and injured by enemy fire. Despite severe, mortal wounds, he continued to fight relentlessly, sustaining a violent engagement with multiple enemy personnel before making the ultimate sacrifice. By his heroic actions and extraordinary valor, sacrificing his life for the lives of his teammates, Technical Sergeant Chapman upheld the highest traditions of military service and reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

For more details go here: https://afspecialwarfare.com/watch-the-first-medal-of-honor-ever-recorded-cct-john-chapman/. Note that CCT Chapman earns not one but two Medals of Honor. He is mortally wounded twice.

Apart from Gold Star families, there is nothing that our military community revers more, or takes more seriously than the Medal of Honor. The investigations are long and rigorous. Sometimes pursued decades after the action, the war and the warrior have passed.

Air Force Releases Video Of John Chapman’s Final Heroic Moments That Earned Him The Medal Of Honor

Master Sergeant John A. Chapman (1965–2002) was a U.S. Air Force Co